Investment in Queensland mines ‘hot to trot’ (The Courier-Mail – June 28, 2018)

Queensland is in the world’s top five regions for the production of key commodities like zinc, bauxite and silver and is one of the largest seaborne exporters of coal in the world. Yet, challenges remain going forward. QBM and BDO co-hosted an exclusive lunch and invited some of the state’s top players to discuss current trends.

Queensland’s Resources Investment Commissioner Todd Harrington spends his days chasing dollars. He says the current state of play has improved on a few years ago. “We deal a lot with the Japanese, about their own strategy for what they are trying to do here,” he says.

“I know a lot of them are hot to trot, a lot of them are engaging. The Aurizon issue is front-of-mind but overall sentiment is they are optimistic it will be resolved.

“I think you’ll see lots of people investing in companies like Pembroke which has 100 per cent-owned assets. There will be lots of Japanese circling to try and see if they can partner in that new supply, particularly in the coal space.”

Pembroke Resources CEO Barry Tudor says the 2020 opening of its Olive Downs coking coal mine in the Bowen Basin will produce 15 million tonnes of met coal product. The company also owns 41,000 hectares of grazing land adjacent to the mine.